A little recipe help, please

[AScott]

I hobbled this together with an American Amber as the base. I'm looking for something on the sweet and malty side, but not cloying. I've never used Honey malt nor can I find much about the actual effects it has on a recipe here at HBT.

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Honey Amber Ale
Style: American Amber Ale
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 4.00 gal
Boil Size: 4.58 gal
Estimated OG: 1.060 SG
Estimated Color: 13.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 29.5 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
7 lbs 4.0 oz Pale Malt (3.0 SRM) Grain 82.86 %
10.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 7.14 %
6.0 oz Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 4.29 %
2.0 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 1.43 %
0.50 oz Galena [13.00 %] (60 min) Hops 27.9 IBU
1 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (2 min) Hops 1.6 IBU
6.0 oz Honey (1.0 SRM) Sugar 4.29 %
1 Pkgs Munton Fison Ale (Munton-Fison #-) Yeast-Ale


Mash will be for 60 mins at 155F.


Any advise is greatly appreciated.

 

[chode720]

That does look tasty! I have not used honey malt either, but my understanding is that 4oz is a good starting point, then go from there if you want more. The honey malt is supposed to add sweetness and flavor similar to honey, but since honey is 100% fermentable, you loose a lot of that during fermentation. Honey malt kinda makes up for it

 

[Bob]

Honey malt is pretty powerful stuff. A little goes a long way. A half-pound in that grist is going to be noticeable but not over the top. You'll get a nice caramel sweetness from the Crystal, some dark fruit notes from the Special B, and a warm, sweet flavor and aroma from the Honey malt.

Looks good!

Bob

 

[kanzimonson]

Honey malt definitely has a honey-like taste to it. Imagine tripling the richness of say crystal 80, without adding the extra fermentables/sweetness. It kinda tricks your mind into perceiving your beer as a little sweeter.

However, you say you want a slightly sweeter beer, so I'd suggest adding a little more crystal. Maybe use a half pound of C40, half C80, and then the honey and special b you already have. Also, consider using 2oz of chocolate/black/roast barley to really get this to a dark ruby. That's at least what I think of in an amber ale. Aim for maybe 15-19 SRM.

 

[AScott]

OK, I made a few changes based on the above recommendations:

BeerSmith Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: Honey Amber Ale
Style: American Amber Ale
TYPE: All Grain

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size: 4.00 gal
Boil Size: 4.58 gal
Estimated OG: 1.060 SG
Estimated Color: 16.8 SRM
Estimated IBU: 29.2 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
7 lbs 4.0 oz Pale Malt (3.0 SRM) Grain 81.69 %
6.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 4.23 %
6.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 4.23 %
6.0 oz Honey Malt (25.0 SRM) Grain 4.23 %
2.0 oz Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM) Grain 1.41 %
2.0 oz Special B Malt (180.0 SRM) Grain 1.41 %
0.50 oz Galena [13.00 %] (60 min) Hops 27.6 IBU
0.99 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] (2 min) Hops 1.6 IBU
4.0 oz Honey (1.0 SRM) Sugar 2.82 %
1 Pkgs Munton Fison Ale (Munton-Fison #-) Yeast-Ale

This puts it pretty close to the upper limit on ABV that I'd like to see and makes it a tad darker than before and gets a little more Crystal in there for sweetness.

I think I'll try to brew this next week.

Thanks for the advice!